Memorable movies

There's a good chance most of you will be out-and-about for Memorial Day weekend. But, for those who may spend these few days off indoors, here are a few flicks to check out on this most honorable of holiday weekends.

"The Great Escape" (1963) -- Hey, it's that World War II movie where Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson and other incarcerated soldiers band together to escape from a German POW camp. It's also the movie where McQueen makes that awesome motorcycle jump.

"Catch-22"/"M*A*S*H" (1970) -- Released in the same year, Mike Nichols' adaptation of Joseph Heller's legendary World War II novel and Robert Altman's sitcom-spawning Korean War dramedy are both insanely funny satires on the atrocious absurdities of the Vietnam War.

"Slaughterhouse-Five" (1972) -- George Roy Hill's trippy adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's notoriously surreal novel, where a World War II vet bounces back and forth through time, has always been a secret fave of mine. And no, it's not because Valerie Perrine is mostly sans-clothes in it.

"Full Metal Jacket" (1987) -- While Oliver Stone pretty much had the market cornered on Vietnam flicks around this time, I still have to give a shout-out to Stanley Kubrick's intense Vietnam saga.

"Saving Private Ryan" (1998) -- I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was shocked when Steven Spielberg's daring, violent and emotional World War II film was beaten out for a Best Picture Oscar by --"Shakespeare in Love"!?! To paraphrase Tom Hanks, that flick didn't earn this.